Waiting for You
by Beechfield Eros
Summary: Tris is worried about Briar, he still hasn't recovered from his experiences in Yanjing. But what can she do to help?
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: **_Anything you recognize belongs to Tamora Pierce. I do not profit._

**A/N:** I don't have the COM books with me, so I am writing off of memory. I apologize for any mistakes I make. 

Tris lay awake, staring at the ceiling. Like every other night, her window was cracked open to give her breezes access to the room. Abandoning all hope for sleep, Tris lit the oil lam and pulled out a book. If she couldn't escape the thoughts plaguing her in sleep, she would loose herself in a world black and white.

The thoughts or more specifically, the person plaguing her mind was her foster brother, Briar. He was a different person from the teenager who had left Winding Circle to travel with Rosethorn. Admittedly, they all were different people, changed by their experiences and travels. She knew that she herself had acquired, in addition to new powers, a new patience while she had been in Tharios.

But while her experiences had made her and her foster sisters stronger, Briar's seemed to have wounded him. He was scarred by what he had seen and done in Yanjing. He was unable to talk about it and he still had moments where the memories and guilt attacked him. He tried to hide it, but Tris knew him better than Sandry or Daja, so even though Briar blocked her from that part of his mind, she knew it happened.

The reason Briar was keeping her up tonight was the same as the previous two nights. Tris had been up late in her workroom, working on a complex magical theory. Sandry had had another social event at the Duke's Citadel and Daja was visiting a friend in the city, so it was just Briar and Tris in the house that night. And Briar's girlfriend.

Tris was just cleaning up when Briar's girlfriend, Leila, came rushing in. Tris had resisted the urge to roll her eyes; while Leila was very pretty, she was not very bright and very dramatic.

"You have to come quick," Leila panted. "He just… I didn't know what… I-"

"Leila, what is wrong?" Tris cut across the stuttering girl, annoyed and more than a little alarmed.

"Briar just…he all of a sudden started freaking out. You have to come!"

Comprehension dawned quickly on Tris and she rushed past Leila towards Briar's room. When she got there, she found Briar doubled over with his eyes closed, hands holding his head. She went to him, quickly casting a spell for peace of mind and a dreamless sleep.

The pain in Briar's expression slowly was replaced by peaceful sleep. She and Leila got Briar on the bed and covered him with a blanket. Leila turned to Tris.

"What was that? It was like, some sort of seizure or something. All he said was 'Get Tris'."

Tris frowned slightly. Briar hadn't told Leila about Yanjing? That was news to her.

" I think you had best go home, Leila. Briar will be asleep for a long time, and you should get some sleep."

"I don't know…"

"You can come over tomorrow to see him, if you want. Briar will be fine, he just needs sleep."

Tris saw Leila to the door and then returned to Briar's room with a cup of tea and a book. Settling down in Briar's only chair, Tris began to read.

Briar woke up by the time she had gotten to the sixth chapter of her book.

"Where…What…Tris? Is that you?"

Tris looked up from her book, "How are you feeling?"

"Groggy. I had another attack." It wasn't a question.

"This time, it was in front of Leila. It scared her silly. She came running into my workroom, panicked."

"Oh, no," Briar groaned. "I never meant for that to happen. What time is it?"

"About two hours past midnight. I sent Leila home, but she will be stopping by tomorrow to see you."

Briar only closed his eyes and sank farther down into the pillows.

"Why didn't you tell her, Briar?"

Briar opened his eyes to see Tris looking at him with something akin to compassion, perhaps even empathy.

"I just couldn't. Leila was always so carefree. I don't think she would understand. She would just write it off as some illness. And I don't want to burden her with troubles like this," Briar added, almost like an excuse.

"Can you tell me?"

Slowly, Briar nodded.

"I…we…I mean, umm. Leila and I were in here, doing…umm, stuff. Something reminded me of Yanjing. It brought back, everything.

"All of a sudden, I was back…in Yanjing. On the battlefields. I could…smell the death. I could…hear the fighting. Innocents, children, victims of something beyond their control. People I killed," the self loathing and guilt was clearly evident in his voice and expression.

Briar's speech was broken and ragged, choked as he fought the fear and guilt. Instinctively, Tris reached out and hugged him tightly.

"You did it to protect yourself, and Rosethorn, and Evvy. You did what you had to Briar."

Tris disentangled herself from the hug gently and stood.

"Come on, let's get some tea. Daja and Sandry are still out, so we have the kitchen to ourselves."

Briar half-smiled at Tris. He knew how much it bothered her to have too many people in her kitchen.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:**_Anything you recognize belongs to the esteemed Tamora Pierce. I am only borrowing her amazing creations. I do not profit from this, so please do not sue me._

**A/N:**Sorry about the delay, people. My computer decided that it did not like me, and chose not to co-operate with me. I ended up reformatting the whole system, so I had no computer access for about two weeks. Again, sorry.

I want personally thank every one of you readers who reviewed my first chapter. I appreciate every one of the reviews. They encourage me to write more. Thank you.

Here is the good news. I have about four more chapters written, which I wrote by hand while my computer was out of commission (grrrrrr). I have the next one typed about halfway, so it should not be too long. Therefore, with out further ado, here is chapter 2 of Waiting for You.

ET voila!

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Tris finished the last page in her book and put it back on the shelf. Judging by where the sun was, or was not, it was just before dawn. Knowing that Sandry, Daja, and Briar probably would not be up for another hour, Tris went down to the kitchen for an early breakfast.

After making a steaming pot of tea and some eggs, bacon, and a type of porridge made of rice, Tris settled down at the table with another book. Much to her surprise, she was joined by Briar, who looked slightly sleep deprived.

"What are you doing up so early?"

Briar shrugged as he helped himself to porridge and eggs.

"I woke up before dawn, and couldn't get back to sleep."

Briar opened his mouth to say more, but frantic knocking on the front door cut him off. Tris shot a quizzical look at Briar, wondering who this could be. Not many people came down this street at this hour.

It turned out to be one of the guards form the Duke's Citadel. There was some sort of emergency at the Citadel that required Sandry's assistance.

Tris left to wake Sandry while Briar showed the guard in and tried to get more information from him.

Sandry and Daja arrived in the kitchen ten minutes later. Sandry was impeccably dressed, with her mage kit on her arm, her eyes alert and awake.

Daja, on the other hand, looked sleepy. She had dressed, but she had not yet braded her hair, and had a grumpy expression on her face.

"What happened?" Sandry asked the guard. "Has my uncle had another heart attack?"

"I don't know much, milady." The guard looked uncomfortable. "It has something to do with the Duke. The whole Citadel is on lockdown. I was told to bring Lady Sandriline fa Toren to the Citadel. No one else is to be admitted past the gates."

Worry clouded Sandry's face. "It must be serious. I had best come immediately." Sandry turned to her foster-siblings, "I'll let you know what happened as soon as I can."

Daja had returned to her room as soon as the guard had left, grumbling about not getting enough sleep. Briar had retreated to is garden, leaving Tris alone to wash the dishes and clean the kitchen.

It was well past noon when Sandry finally contacted them. The Duke had been found unconscious in his study. The healers could not find any natural cause for his state, and had deemed it of magical origin. However, none of them could counter the spell, or even detect it. Until the Duke woke, Sandry was going to have to act as regent in his place.

Daja, Briar, and Tris had agreed to stay with her at the Duke's Citadel until Duke Vedris woke and they were able to solve this mystery.

_"There is something peculiar about this," Sandry had said. "Something feels wrong, out of place."_

Daja decided to join Sandry immediately at the Citadel. She packed and left the house so rapidly that it surprised Tris. She and Briar would join Sandry the following day, as Briar needed to gather certain plants and herbs, and she had to complete the project she was working on.

Her project, if she could finish it in time, was a way to harness the energy from lightning and store it in an inanimate object. Gemstones worked best. Tris had a set that she had had Evvy, Briar's stone mage student, help her find. If everything went well, Tris should theoretically be able to use the energy stored in the gems to produce a spell, without absorbing it into her body. That meant that she could perform spells that would normally be too powerful for a single mage, and the effort would be less taxing than using her braids.

The gems were unstable at the moment, which was why she did not want to leave the house before she could complete the binding spell that would stabilize them.

Tris pondered the enigma of the Duke's attack as she prepared lunch for herself and for Briar. She did not know of anyone who would be in a position to attack the Duke in this fashion and get away with it. Sandry's uncle was well protected in the Citadel, so the attack had most likely come from inside the Citadel. Regardless, they had nothing to start with until the Duke woke, or was awakened.

This realization brought Tris' mind back to her power-saturated gems. With their help, Tris hoped to create a spell strong enough to see what happened to the Duke.

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**A/N: **So, how was it. What did you think? Review, review, review! Please? Pretty please? (They encourage me to post the next chapter, did I mention it was mostly typed?) hint, hint 


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer:**_Anything you recognize belongs to the esteemed Tamora Pierce. I am only borrowing her amazing creations. I do not profit from this, so please do not sue me._

**A/N:** I said I would be quick, but I meant to be quicker. Sorry folks; between one thing and another, this got pushed back to the end of the list. Well, here you go people: the third chapter. Thanks again to all those of you who reviewed my story, it really does motivate me to write.

Et voila!

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Her gems were complete, stored with enough power to double or perhaps triple her spell-casting power. It had taken most of the afternoon, but Tris was finally satisfied that these gems would be stable enough to withstand the transportation and the spell.

She was packing her things to take to the Citadel when Briar knocked on the door. Tris opened it to see Briar balancing at least four books on medicine in one arm and a large bag in the other. The bag was already mostly full with clothing and other necessities. Briar grinned, flashing white, even teeth in her direction.

"Hey, Coppercurls. I'm not interrupting anything, am I?"

She put a few more books into the single bag she was taking, turning slightly to hide the smile that was pulling on her lips. Briar had not used her nickname in a very long time. Tris took it as a sign that his anguish over Yanjing was receding a little.

Still juggling his books and bag, Briar walked over to Tris' bed. He set the contents of his arms down, nearly dropping everything in the process.

Tris stifled a laugh. Briar was usually so graceful.

He caught her eye with one of his own. "Did your stabilization spell work?" he asked as he vainly attempted to stuff the rest of his books into his already stuffed bag.

"The stabilization spell worked. I have yet to test the stone's power reserves against such a powerful spell, but all of my previous attempts have worked far better than I hoped. With a little luck, the spell won't kill me," Tris joked.

Briar looked her in the eye, and for an instant his normally green eyes were some how much darker and sparking with some type of energy. His expression changed so quickly that Tris almost missed it, dark and intense, then light and playful again.

"Not funny, Tris."

"What would I do if you weren't here to be sure I cleaned my room and folded my socks?" he joked.

She half-grinned at him. It was a private joke they shared, back when they had first moved in together and allocated the domestic chores. Tris remembered the heated debates over whose turn it was to handle the laundry.

Tris completed her packing and closed her bag, tying it off with a cord spelled to open only for her. She turned to Briar, who was still foolishly attempting to stuff his bag.

"Oh, give it here," she said, knowing that he had come so that he could convince her to spell his bag like she had done to hers. Spelled to enlarge itself internally to fit its contents, she only needed one bag in which she could fit all her possessions. As an added bonus, the bag weighed almost nothing.

Briar's hands brushed hers slightly as he handed over the bag, but Tris was too busy starting the spell to notice the way the flowers on his hand reacted to the accidental touch.

Tris muttered a spell for enlargement and another for durability, adding to Sandry's protection in the fabric. As an afterthought, Tris cast a spell for cleanliness and fresh scents over the compartments where Briar could keep his herbs and plants. She knew from experience that some of the vials contained nasty-smelling extracts. She handed the pack back to Briar, who fit the rest of his books in it with ease.

"What do you make of the Duke's attack?" She asked him as they walked down to the kitchen for an early supper.

Briar frowned slightly, "I think there is more going on than we are seeing. I feel like there is a large conspiracy that has just become active. Who ever the attacker was, he or she had to be an extremely powerful mage to baffle the guards, healers, and the magical protection around the Citadel."

Tris agreed. "My problem is, I can't think of anyone with that amount of power who is close enough to Duke Vedris to initiate that type of attack and get out unnoticed."

"Perhaps he is still in the Citadel and the guards haven't yet found him."

Tris shivered at the thought. This mysterious mage frightened her more than ever before, not that she would let Briar know that.

"Let's hope that Sandry will know more when we join her tomorrow."

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**A/N:** So? What do you think? Review and maybe I'll let you have the next one. 

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